Death Note: American Dream
by DiamondTheHedgehog556
Summary: When Ryuk dropped the Death Note into the human world, it could have gone anywhere. In this case, the United States of America was where it landed. After one James Rook found and took the mystical notebook, he doesn't believe it. But after using it to kill someone close to him, he realizes the power he holds in his hand. He now wishes to kill evil and achieve the American Dream.
1. With Great Power Comes Great Regret

I hate high school. I know, I know, most people say high school was the best years of their lives, but I can easily say they're the worst years of mine. Some people believe the reason I'm failing most of my classes is because I'm not smart enough. But in reality, I just couldn't give any less of a shit.

I've spent my entire freshman year bored out of my mind to the point where I outright refused to do most of the work. And whatever work I did do, I didn't work very hard on, making me get a 20 at most. There were only two classes that I tried and succeeded in: Spanish and PE. Spanish because I was actually interested in the Spanish language and knew it would help me in the long run and PE because it was so easy, I'd probably pass even if I was trying to fail.

However, it was announced that finals was within a few months so, despite hating every second of it, I knew I needed to get my shit together and actually try to pass. If I didn't, I'd be stuck doing it over again, which was not something I was okay with doing. So, I locked myself away in my room with nothing but books, my notebook, a pen, and my computer which was opened up to the school website.

I spent hours writing, studying, and doing unfinished homework, only leaving to eat and use the bathroom. However, I stared in horror as I found my notebook had run out of pages and my parents weren't set to go shopping again for another week or so. And it wasn't like I could go and buy one myself, I was still only 15 years old and didn't have a job to get me the money, nor a car to drive over there. So, I found myself basically fucked.

Biting down on a potato chip, I casually glanced out the window only to see something that made no sense. Before my eyes, a black notebook with white writing on the cover was falling from the sky. Now, had I been in the city at that point, I would have just assumed somebody dropped it while writing on a balcony or something, but as I lived in a suburban neighborhood, no buildings were tall enough for somebody to drop it. A plane happened to be flying by not too long ago, but how would a black notebook fall from it and nothing else?

Regardless, it hit the ground, lying face down. Curious, I stood up and walked out of my room, heading down the stairs and out the door. Did I tell my parents why? Of course not. How would one tell their parents they saw a black notebook falling from the sky without them thinking I'd gone insane? Regardless, I just told them I wanted to get some fresh air before going to pick up the notebook.

 _ **DEATH NOTE**_

Death note? What the hell was a death note? Was it like a suicide note? Perhaps this was something written by some murderer who was allowed to print down his last thoughts before his eventual execution. I opened the notebook to find a weird design printed on the inside of the cover:

 _ **Death Note**_

 _ **How To Use It**_

 _ **The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die.**_

 _ **This**_ _ **note**_ _ **will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.**_

 _ **If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.**_

 _ **If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.**_

 _ **After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.**_

What? Was this some kind of cruel joke? And who was meant to believe it? There was no way a notebook could cause someone to die, unless you were to shove it down their throat or something. Either way, I needed a new notebook to finish writing. I flipped through the pages to find that every single page was empty. I shrugged, figuring it might just be a fan-made prop replica from an anime or something I haven't seen.

I hid the notebook under my shirt, not wanting to make my parents think I stole it or something, and made my way back up to my room. I set the notebook down on my desk, looking at the computer screen to see what I had to do next.

"Write about a person you look up to. Why do you look up to them? 4-7 paragraphs minimum."

Alright then. I clicked my pen and began to write.

"Nicholas Cage is the person I look up to. I love how in all his movies, even in ones that weren't that good, he always gives his all and acts crazy, which works a lot of the time and is extremely funny. I love how he's not afraid to act as himself…" And I continued writing.

About a minute passed when I got a skype notification. Looking up, I saw it was from my friend Brandon. Whatever he was gonna say, I knew it was gonna be interesting. Brandon was always on top of news and fun facts, so any time he finds something he knows will interest me, he tells me. I happily clicked skype, expecting that maybe a new Metroid game had been announced or something happy like that. What I found instead horrified me.

"James! James! Nick Cage is dead!"

I responded, asking him to elaborate. He said that, according to some news site, the famous actor was on set for some movie that hadn't been announced yet when he suddenly had a heart attack and died. Thinking it was some kind of prank, I quickly jumped to google and looked it up. Though I found clickbait that dated a few years, some official news sites were talking about the issue.

My mind then jumped to the notebook. Specifically, the first and fourth rules. "The human whose name is written in this note shall die." "If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack."

No, it can't be. There's no way this notebook was real. It had to be some kind of coincidence, right? It was one hell of a coincidence though. No, it was. I know it was. "In fact, I'm so confident in it being a coincidence, I'll write my dad's name!" Flipping a few pages ahead, I quickly wrote, "Johnathan Rook" before quickly looking at my watch. I counted down the 40 seconds. And just as I said "40", I heard my mom scream.


	2. The Power of a God

The funeral was hard. Growing up, my father was one of my favorite people in the world. And he still is. If he'd been killed by some random stranger on the street, I'd go on a super hero style journey to track down the killer and get my revenge, likely using the Death Note. But the problem with doing that in this situation was that the killer was me.

But that didn't stop me considering. The second the funeral ended and I got home, I ran to my room, locked the door, and opened up the Death Note. I already had it planned out in my head. I would write my name. Remembering I could provide details of the death as far as changing the cause, so that's what I would do. I would write suicide beside my name. I would write down that once my mom was out of the house going shopping or something, I would run downstairs, start a fire, and I would burn. Not only would it kill me and officially punish the person who murdered my father, it would also destroy the Death Note, meaning that no one would be able to kill any more people. Even if the Death Note was more magical than I thought and it couldn't be destroyed, the worst that would happen is people would get closure on my death and the Death Note would be taken into police custody. However, when I actually picked up the pen, I found that things would be easier said than done.

I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not only would the fire kill me, which would be devastating for my mom to go through the death of both her husband and her only son, but it would also destroy the house and everything in it, meaning my mom would be completely homeless and only have whatever money was in her bank account. I couldn't do that. It took me a while, but I closed the notebook and set my pen down.

"Are you feeling pain?"

The sudden voice was one that I never heard before. I wouldn't be as scared as I was, considering the voice wasn't all that scary, but the fact that someone new was in my house and right behind me as well as the face I saw when I turned around gave me a heart attack.

I saw a long pale white face with two lifeless yellow eyes staring at me. His lips were a dark blue, which would look ridiculous on most people but somehow succeeds in making him look more intimidating. The lips extended long past his cheeks and were curled into a wide smile which perfectly showed off his sharp yellow teeth… or, at least, I assume it was a he.

Upon seeing the thing, I screamed, falling out of my chair. I backed as far away from him as fast as I could, hitting the wall. He laughed, slowly floating towards me. "No need to be alarmed." He said. "I am the god of death, Ryuk."

God of death? Oh god, did that mean he was here to kill me?! I reached onto my computer desk, grabbing the bible my mom gave me but I never read, and held it out towards the death god. "Leave this house at once, foul demon!" I said with a shaky voice.

Ryuk, not affected by it at all, pretended to act shocked, losing the hunch in his back and placing a hand on his chest. But a second later, he laughed and went back to how he was before. "Oh don't worry, I won't hurt you. I just want to let you know I dropped my note book."

Knowing immediately he was talking about the Death Note, I quickly grabbed it and held it in his direction. "Here just take it! I want it gone immediately!" But instead of taking it, he just stared.

"Well, I didn't expect you to be so willing to give such power back."

"I don't need the power! I have my life!"

"Oh no, don't me wrong, I'll take it. I just think you should know something first. If you give away the note book, either by giving it back to me or by giving it to someone else, I'll have no choice but to erase your memories of the Death Note. Is that what you want?"

I took a second to think about it. On one hand, the Death Note would be out of this world and out of trouble's hands. On the other hand, that also means I'd forget about how dad died. And I'd be spending time either grieving or trying to find the cause. After debating it with myself for a few minutes, I put the Death Note back on the desk. "Fine then… I'll keep it."

Ryuk laughed. "Good. I was hoping I wouldn't have to give it to someone else."

I looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, simple. As a god, I read through your mind and I found a deep seething hatred for humanity." I was shocked. I didn't really consider myself as being like that. Before I could question it though, he continued. "You hate the American Education System. You hate the many, as you seem to put it, jerks and assholes of this world. And you seem to especially hate all the death that was happening."

I nodded, slowly realizing I was indeed as he said. "Yeah… that's why I want to become a teacher. So that I can teach kids how to be better people."

He laughed. "Oh good. It'll be interesting watching a killer stand at the front of a class and teach." I nodded, sitting down at my desk.

"For now though, I guess I'll just use my Death Note for… something… I mean, I have it, so I might as well use it. Hm…" I sat for a moment before turning on a news station and watching. Eventually, a woman began talking about an insane serial killer by the name of Jack Morgon who was known for murdering multiple children with either a knife or a gun, sometimes both. Apparently, Jack had been caught and was currently in prison, waiting for his execution, which was scheduled next week. I looked back at my Death Note, writing in "Jack Morgon". And then I waited. A while passed and the news woman was given a sheet of paper.

She quickly read it, saying, "Um… this just in. Apparently Jack Morgon is dead. He just had a heart attack and collapsed dead in his cell." I then looked at my Death Note, a smile slowly spreading across my face. That's it, that's how I'll use my Death Note. I'll kill criminals. I'll kill them all. I'll make this world a better place. And once all the criminals are gone, they'll all be too afraid to try and commit crimes. Peace will be brought onto this world. I have been chosen by fate, no, by God to bring an end to war, hate, and suffering. I will achieve the American dream!

And though many people believed all the deaths to be just coincidence, one young man known simply as N believed it to be much more.


End file.
